pert

Aphetic form of apert.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pɜːt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /pɝt/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)t

pert (comparative perter, superlative pertest)

1. (of a person) Attractive.
2. (of a part of the body) Well-formed; shapely. [from 14th c.]

   pert breasts

3. Lively; alert and cheerful; bright. [from 16th c.]
   • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame. […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, […], published 1600, OCLC 1041029189, [Act I, scene i]:

     Goe Philoſtrate, / Stirre vp the Athenian youth to merriments, / Awake the peart and nimble ſpirit of mirth, / Turne melancholy foorth to funerals: […]

   • 2001, Donald Spoto, Marilyn Monroe: The Biography, chapter 1, 11:

     He was instantly attracted to Gladys's pert, fey humor and her good nature.

4. (archaic) Especially of children or social inferiors: cheeky, impertinent. [from 15th c.]

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:cheeky

   • 1741, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XVI”, in Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded. […], volume I, 3rd edition, London: […] C[harles] Rivington, […]; and J. Osborn, […], OCLC 1264825423, page 37:

     Says Mrs. Jervis, Pamela, don’t be pert to his Honour? You ſhould know your Diſtance; you ſee his Honour was only in Jeſt.

   • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, OCLC 2057953:

     [T]he Major began to think that Pen was growing exceedingly pert and conceited, and that the world made a great deal too much of him.

   • 1857–1859, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, chapter XXXIV, in The Virginians. A Tale of the Last Century, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1858–1859, OCLC 1061908157:

     […] so that I couldn't help telling her, sir, that in our country, leastways in Virginia (they say the Yankees are very pert), young people don't speak of their elders so.

   • 1885, William Dean Howells, chapter XII, in The Rise of Silas Lapham‎:

     “Then you didn't find her so amusing as Tom does?”
     “I found her pert. There's no other word for it. She says things to puzzle you and put you out.”

   • 2009, Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall, Fourth Estate 2010, p. 333:

     "You'll not be so pert when the Cornish seize you. They spit children like you and roast them on bonfires."

5. (obsolete) Open; evident; unhidden. [14th–17th c.]
   • [15th century, “[Richard the Redeles.] Passus Quartus.”, in Walter W[illiam] Skeat, editor, The Vision of William Concerning Piers the Plowman, Dowel, Dobet, and Dobest, […]. Richard the Redeles, […] The Crowned King, […] (Early English Text Society, Part III; 54) (in Middle English), London: […] [F]or the Early English Text Society by N[icholas] Trübner & Co., […], published 1873, OCLC 499579000, lines 88–90, page 503:

     Some parled as perte · as prouyd well after, / And clappid more ffor þe coyne · þat þe kyng oweth hem / Thanne ffor comfforte of þe comyne […]

     Some talked as openly, as proud well after, / And clapped more for the coin that the king owes them / Than for comfort of the common […]]

6. (obsolete) Clever.

• pertly
• pertness

pert (third-person singular simple present perts, present participle perting, simple past and past participle perted)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To behave with pertness; to misbehave.

pert (plural perts)

1. (obsolete) An impudent person.

• 'terp, -pter, pret., rept-, terp

per +‎ -t

• IPA^(key): [ˈpɛrt]
• Hyphenation: pert

pert

1. accusative singular of per

   pert indít ― to sue

• part

From Latin pars, partem.

pert f (plural pertes)

1. part

• partir

From Old Dutch *peret, from Late Latin paraverēdus.

pert n

1. horse

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

• pāert
• pēert

• Dutch: paard, perd
  • Afrikaans: perd
    • → Phuthi: ipere
    • → Sotho: pere
  • Jersey Dutch: pêrt, pêrd
  • → English: prad
• Limburgish: paerd
• West Flemish: peird

• “pert”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “pert”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

Borrowed from French perte.

• IPA^(key): [pæɾt]

pert (definite accusative perti, plural pertler)

1. For something to decrease in value.
2. For damage to be done to something.

   Araba pert oldu.

   The car was destroyed.

• IPA^(key): /pɛrt/

pert (feminine singular pert, plural perton, equative perted, comparative pertach, superlative pertaf)

1. pretty, attractive
2. quaint